3Nov11
I have to offer a public apology, and a word of warning to my future wife today.
I went to Port-Au-Prince with a pocket full of money, and aspirations to buy appliances for our
house, and I failed.
Guess it’s just another reflection of my father, and my Father, in me.
When I started adding up the cash I had on hand, I realized I couldn’t get everything on my list.
Granted, my list is much more than I have ever tried to shop for in the past.
For our house:
-Fridgerator
-Stove
-Dishes
-Pots and Pans
-Dining Room Furniture
-Dresser
-Fans
-Voltage Regulator
-Washing Machine
-Water Cooler
-and probably other things that I can’t think of right now.
Of the list, I figured out that some are things I shouldn’t buy at a big store.
The Dining Room stuff and Dresser I’ll get a local carpenter to make. It’s cheaper, feels more
real to me, and directly supports him and his family. (Or, if we make it out of steel, it
supports Gayly and his family).
The dishes, that one I was just overwhelmed with choices. Jamie can make that decision when she
gets here. 🙂
And the washing machine, I have a lead on one from a friend here in Jacmel, so I didn’t have to
worry about it.
Now, for the rest of the stuff. All I managed to buy was one fan. It’s a good fan, but that’s it.
Why?
Because of facebook.
Or, more specifically because facebook showed me greater needs than my own.
God has brought Harvest Field Ministries into my path. This week I will be heading to Les Angleis
(once again expanding the territory I have seen in Haiti). It is 2 1/2 hours PAST Les Cayes on
the SW of Haiti. There, an orphanage, and a missionary’s house, are both run solely by generator
and battery/inverter systems. And they have problems that they haven’t been able to solve.
I am very excited to go meet them and offer what help I can.
But, since they are 7.5 hours from Port-Au-Prince (PAP), I don’t want to go empty handed. I don’t
know if their batteries or inverter are working, and I can’t just run out for some. So, I bought
an inverter and a set of 4 batteries for them today. Maybe we’ll need them, maybe not. If not,
I’m sure someone else will.
But, their need superceded my need of a fridgerator and stove and other stuff for now.
Then, I saw another friend post on facebook that her inverter is broken, and it is making it
harder (for a borderline insomniac already) to sleep. But, I can’t fix her inverter right now,
because of the Les Angleis trip and the trip with Dr. Jay that ties in with it.
So, F1 Engineering now has a new “loaner” inverter. I can’t fix hers right now, but she is up and
running with the loaner until I get the chance to fix hers.
All of this to say, I’m failing at setting up a house, but God is allowing success is taking care
of His children. I am thankful to say that F1 had plenty of funding to get these parts and be
able to do this work.
Through God’s faithfulness, He keeps providing. Friday, I got to install an inverter for another
missionary down here. She got the inverter and batteries, and I did the labor, but I can’t thank
God enough for the tools and parts to do the jobs right. Soon I’ll know how to do it well enough
to cut down the 10 trips back to my truck to go get a different tool or part. 🙂
If you ever wonder where support money to F1 Engineering goes, this is a great example.
It provides light (and peace of mind) in Jacmel, keeps a fridge of medicine cool in Grand Goave,
and gets me to the next job, with the right tools to help out whoever the next person is that God
brings into my path.
And, so no one is worrying for me, I also know that this apology will not surprise Jamie. And she
knows just as well as I do that God will provide our every need, according to his riches, in
exactly the times we need them.
God Bless.
